Prioritising bushfire resilience in Queensland communities

Queensland is becoming increasingly prone to gruelling heatwaves and extreme bushfires.¹ 

In 2023, our State experienced its most destructive bushfire season on record, and it’s hard not to look past the recent wildfires in Los Angeles to paint a picture of how destructive future bushfires in Australia could be. 

As we learn to live with the inevitable risk of more natural disasters, there is one key lesson - we must commit to building more resilient communities so we can reduce their impact. 

Since 2011, the RACQ Foundation has been helping communities recover from natural disasters, and in 2023 introduced resilience-based grants to help organisations prepare for future weather events. 

RACQ Head of Sustainability Will Soutar said it’s important for communities to prioritise resilience building initiatives. 

“As a mutual, RACQ has always tried to give back to community and more recently we have had an increased focus on disaster resilience building,” Mr Soutar said. 

“Queensland is the most disaster-prone state and incurs around 60% of Australia’s disaster costs, reinforcing the need for communities to prepare before disaster strikes.”²

In FY24, the RACQ Foundation distributed more than $500,000 to community groups through its climate resilient grants program. 

Wild Mountains Environmental Education Centre was a recipient of a FY24 RACQ Foundation grant and has taken steps to reduce the threat of bushfire. 

Wild Mountains is located on the Border Ranges and is surrounded by lush native forests.

Co-Founder of Wild Mountains Richard Zoomers said the centre, located in Queensland’s Border Ranges hopes to teach students ways they can lessen their impact on the planet. 

“Wild Mountains started in the mid-1980s with the aim of starting an environmental education centre for children and adults,” Mr Zoomers said. 

“We want those who experience our programs to go away with an understanding of how the planet works, see how incredibly beautiful the planet is and realise that we all have an impact.”

Mr Zoomers said the funding they received from RACQ Foundation will help them mitigate ember attacks from bushfires. 

“In 2019 the fires came within 12 kilometres of the centre and our people spent a lot of time raking away flammable shrubbery to avoid an ember attack,” Mr Zoomers said. 

“With funding from the RACQ Foundation we were able to install a sprinkler system which means we can evacuate in an emergency knowing the area around our property will be damp enough to prevent fire from impacting our timber buildings.

“It’s fantastic that RACQ are helping with resilience building as everyone knows the likelihood of fires, floods and storms are only increasing.” 

Mr Soutar said the Club will continue supporting grassroots organisations mitigate the impact of severe weather. 

“Wild Mountains brings people together and makes us appreciate the nature that we all love in Queensland, so it’s great to be able to help them withstand bushfire risk,” he said.

“We are really proud to help these organisations who are the backbone of Queensland communities.”  

Learn more about RACQ Foundation.

_{¹Climate Council. (October 9, 2024). State of Queensland: Disaster Ground Zero. State of Queensland: Disaster Ground Zero | Climate Council}

_{²Deloitte Access Economics, ‘Building Resilience to natural disasters in our states and territories’, Australian Business Round Table, 2017, http://australianbusinessroundtable.com.au/assets/documents/ABR_building-resilience-in-our-states-and-territories.pdf (accessed 19 January 2023).}